Just by saying so
by Coin
Summary: Getting teased on the playground isn't the end of the world.


**Author's note-**I know, I know. I should be updating HS in all of its Stupidity or The Duane Street Wives. And I will….eventually. I will make up for my three weeks absence.

This is kind of short, but I like it.

_Week Six Challenge.----_Take one of your worst moments.  
Stick it in ANY era.  
Pick a POV (first person).  
Make it one of their best.

===

"Hey SEAN! How come your Momma's black and your Daddy's white?"  
  
"Yea, that's weird,"  
  
"No it's not," was all Sean could say in his defense. His voice was shaky as he screamed out. He just stared back at the group of kids.  
  
They had nothing to say back. They stood in their circle as Sean fixed himself uneasily. I hate those kids.  
  
"Yea well your skin looks like oatmeal. It's all mushy!" said Jackie. Her perfect blonde hair and green eyes made her look like an angel and most thought of her as quiet. But the second the little girl in her pretty blue dress knew she could get power over someone she stomped…and hard.  
  
"Let's call him Mushy!" one of her friends called out and they burst into giggles. Not the laughter of children that puts a smile on adult's faces but an evil laugh. That kind that made you think twice before you called little Jackie "cute". For a girl in third grade she was pretty menacing.  
  
"Mushy, Mushy, Mushy!" Sean ran from them and they laughed at his weakness.  
  
As Sean found refuge behind one of the tall oak trees that lined the brook behind Stony Brook Elementary his crowd of tormentors decided to not include the un-cool kids in their game of kickball. It exploded into a fight. Jackie didn't think twice about getting her lovely dress messy as she and Anna smacked and kicked.  
  
"When did kids get so mean so fast?" Ms. Lendach mused as she broke up the fight.  
  
Oscar and Race were in a full fledge war that not even the teachers could break up. Anna then jumped on Oscar herself screaming something along the lines of "GET OFF MY BROTHER YOU MORON!" and she had to be pried off of him with the help of five teachers. She was kicking and screaming obscenities.  
  
"Send that one to the principal's office."  
  
Hot tears ran down Sean's cheek as he looked back at the fight. The children were being sent to line against the wall of the school and stare at the brick until the bell rang. I didn't think it was fair that their only punishment was standing.  
  
"Whatcha crying for Mushy?" I asked. Sean looked over at me in fear. I put down my book. He suddenly scowled at me.

"Shut-up!" I guess Sean resented his new nickname.  
  
"What? You don't like being called names?" I asked calmly.  
  
"Of course I don't…idiot."  
  
"Then why did you just call me an idiot?"  
  
"You think you're so smart."  
  
"I was just asking a question…jeez." I began to walk away but something stopped me. I looked over and pitied him. That had been me last year when everyone had resorted to calling me "The Walking Mouth". But Jack Kelly, one the most popular kids on the playground, had taught me to be my own person and to make the most of my nickname. Use it to my advantage.  
  
Jack had been teased too. "Is it true your fathers in jail?" they'd ask, wide eyed.  
  
"Hey Mush, you want to play four square with me and Jack and Spot?"  
  
"Uh…ok," Sean replied.  
  
We walked to the tarmac in silence. Jack and Spot stood in two of the boxes and Spot was, of course, the king.  
  
"Hey guys, this is Mush. He's a fourth grader." Jack and Spot liked the nickname. Far better than Mushy.  
  
"Having fun Race?" Jack called over to the wall. Race was impatiently standing waiting for his time in "jail" to be over.  
  
"THIS SUCKS!"  
  
"Down to the office, NOW!" Ms. Reilly screamed out.  
  
We laughed and played four square until the bell rang. The next day at lunch Mush sat with the us.

We ran in a big crowd. Boys from every grade, who had been teased and tortured. We made our own clique, the kind where anyone was invited. We're brothers.  
  
====

_-By the way, the Anna moment is based off of something that really happened once. I think I was nine and I dropped the f bomb and they suspended me for a day from school. But it wasn't fair because THEY wouldn't let us play kickball with them_.


End file.
